diff --git a/IPython/Magic.py b/IPython/Magic.py
index 3f132dd..03730e6 100644
--- a/IPython/Magic.py
+++ b/IPython/Magic.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 """Magic functions for InteractiveShell.
 
-$Id: Magic.py 1092 2006-01-27 23:56:32Z vivainio $"""
+$Id: Magic.py 1094 2006-01-28 00:47:41Z vivainio $"""
 
 #*****************************************************************************
 #       Copyright (C) 2001 Janko Hauser <jhauser@zscout.de> and
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ import time
 import cPickle as pickle
 import textwrap
 from cStringIO import StringIO
-from getopt import getopt
+from getopt import getopt,GetoptError
 from pprint import pprint, pformat
 
 # profile isn't bundled by default in Debian for license reasons
@@ -306,7 +306,11 @@ license. To use profiling, please install"python2.3-profiler" from non-free.""")
             # need to look for options
             argv = shlex_split(arg_str)
             # Do regular option processing
-            opts,args = getopt(argv,opt_str,*long_opts)
+            try:
+                opts,args = getopt(argv,opt_str,*long_opts)
+            except GetoptError,e:
+                raise GetoptError('%s ( allowed: "%s" %s)' % (e.msg,opt_str, 
+                                        " ".join(long_opts)))
             for o,a in opts:
                 if o.startswith('--'):
                     o = o[2:]
diff --git a/doc/ChangeLog b/doc/ChangeLog
index f936d3b..a938a1c 100644
--- a/doc/ChangeLog
+++ b/doc/ChangeLog
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@
 	* usage.py, Magic.py: added %quickref
 	
 	* iplib.py: ESC_PAREN fixes: /f 1 2 -> f(1,2), not f(1 2).
+	
+	* GetoptErrors when invoking magics etc. with wrong args 
+	are now more helpful: 
+	GetoptError: option -l not recognized (allowed: "qb" )
 
 2006-01-25  Fernando Perez  <Fernando.Perez@colorado.edu>